In January 2025, the 12th round of Mentoring for Migrants in Carinthia began. I am honored to lead this project for the tenth time. It is always a great joy to support the mentors and their mentees for about six months, together with the project team – employees of the Chamber of Commerce, the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF), and the Public Employment Service (AMS).

The goal of this project is to ease the path into working life in Carinthia for migrants from various countries of origin. The needs are diverse: some require sparring partners to develop their career path, others need networks, and some need support with "settling in," meaning getting familiar with institutions, etc.

This project makes sense and represents a win-win situation for the participants, as well as for society in general. The success of the previous, completed rounds speaks for itself.

In the current round, 25 tandems have started, the highest number ever. The mentees come from 16 nations. Some of the mentors also have a migration background or are former mentees themselves. In total, 20 different countries of origin are represented.

After more than two and a half months of the project, we can already report some successes. We are pleased with the extremely motivated mentees and are grateful for the many, as always, highly dedicated mentors.

This is living together and successful co-creation!

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Fotocredit: marygoodfoto | Maria Wawrzyniak